Smiles And Snowflakes
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: What happens when a young Weiss, who is breakable, uncertain, and scared, meets the joyful, accepting, and honest Ruby for the very first time? (Normal-life AU).


**Well it's not RWBY Tuesday but since there was no new episode this week, I was told I should write a fic for this Thursday and well... A tumblr blog for White Rose gave me a little idea aaand as usual I somehow made it 10 pages long so enjoy. ****  
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**I've never written an Alternate Universe before, but I did my best for little Ruby and Weiss! (I'd say they are 6 or 7 years old in this fic) It's just a normal world. ****I did it all in one night so it might be a little lacking in quality, though.**

**This is for dropsofjupiter1998~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

* * *

Smiles And Snowflakes

Snowflakes were piling down in blankets of frozen fluff, spiraling on a light wind as they drifted from the clouds.

The entire town was covered in a cold, alabaster coating, save the dark gray pavement of the roads. A group of children stood at the edge of the street dressed in big jackets, woolen hats, thick gloves, and itchy scarves, laughing and playing and throwing snowballs at one another as they waited for the arrival of their school bus.

Even though she was still very young, Ruby was evidently very popular, because the other kids, both boys and girls, were always asking her to play with them, always talking to her. Of course, Ruby had been taught to always be nice to everyone she met, and would often go along to play with them.

But one day, about a month ago at the start of winter, there was suddenly a new girl waiting at the bus stop with the rest of them. Her light blue coat, white hair, and pale complexion camouflaged her in with the snowy backdrop, much in contrast to Ruby's red coat and black backpack, and Ruby realized that no one noticed this girl; or if they did, they ignored her.

Ruby was worried the girl had been there longer than she knew, but Ruby had not seen her until a month ago. Feeling bad about not having said hello yet, Ruby went up to the quiet girl. "Hiya!" She said cheerfully. "I'm Ruby! What's your name?"

But despite how she tried to be happy and inviting, Ruby saw the other girl flinch away. She gazed at Ruby with shocked mist-blue eyes, as though Ruby had been the first person to speak to her and she did not know how to respond.

"I... I..." The quieter girl had shied away instantly, her eyes flashing about in all directions, as though looking for someone to rescue her, or at least give her a hint of how she should answer. "I... I have to go!"

And with that she spun around, trying to take off. But she tripped on a mound of snow, falling face-first into a pile of the cold, white stuff.

"H-Hey! Are you okay?" Ruby tried to help her up, but before she could touch the other girl, she heard the pitiful sounds of whimpering. The new girl pushed herself up, hiccuping with sobs as she wiped tears and snow off her face.

But before Ruby could try to help her up, she stood and raced away to a large, expensive-looking car parked on the side of the street. A woman emerged to take the crying girl into her arms and placed her inside the car.

* * *

Ruby did not see that girl again for another two weeks, and she felt very guilty about not having helped her when she had the chance.

But after two weeks, she arrived at the snow-covered bus stop to find the little girl with white hair hiding behind a tree several yards away from the other children.

A huge smile spread across Ruby's face as she dashed through the snow toward her, her red boots kicking up flakes in all directions. "Good morning!" She called out. The other girl yelped in surprise as she ducked away behind the tree, and to Ruby it looked like she was trying to make herself invisible. "Um... Are you okay?" Ruby popped her head around the trunk of the tree.

"Eh?" The white-haired girl squealed. "W-Why did you come looking for me? U-Usually people just leave me alone... M...Mother!" Looking over her shoulder toward the luxurious car, she cried out. But before she could run off this time, Ruby reached forward and grabbed her wrist.

"Wait! Please don't run away!" She begged.

"N-No! Let go!" The other girl slumped to the ground, her eyes beginning to water.

"P-Please don't cry!" Ruby knelt down in the snow beside her. "You don't have to run away! You don't have to cry! I just want to talk to you!" For some reason, she could not help but feel worried for this girl, as though she was taking care of a very delicate animal.

"W..." The other girl sniffed as she slowly turned back to look at Ruby. "Why... do you want to... talk to me?"

"Well..." Ruby thought for a moment before replying with a grin. "Because I want to be friends!"

"F...Fri...ends...?" The girl repeated.

"That's right! Friends! Don't you have any others?" Ruby asked. "Oh, since you just moved here, I guess you might not, huh..."

But the other girl was still sitting in the snow with her eyes open wide, the tears having stopped. "Fri...ends..." She repeated. Then, she stood immediately and dashed off toward the car. "Mother!" She gasped. "Mother!"

Weiss dashed toward the car where her mother waited; she had said Weiss would have to try and make friends with the other children without her parents' help, but the white-haired girl had no idea how to go about it.

She never expected that someone else would try to be friends with her first.

Eager to report the news to her mother, Weiss ran to the car, her chest bursting with a confusing, fuzzy feeling she had never experienced before.

Ruby curiously watched her run off, feeling like she had successfully managed to appeal to the new girl with the white hair.

* * *

The following day, snow still covered the ground as Ruby walked to the bus stop, sporting her usual red coat, but she did not go as far as the other children.

Instead, she hung back near the trees off to the side of the road, and before very long she heard the sounds of snow crunching softly beneath timid boots. She turned quickly to find the girl with white hair, her body partially hidden behind a tree as she peeked shyly out at Ruby.

"Good morning!" Ruby smiled to her. The other girl looked back over her shoulder toward the car, panicked, but Ruby heard her murmur to herself, "No! Mother told me I can't run away today! I have to be a big girl and talk to her!"

She then turned back to Ruby and drew in a deep, shaky breath. "G...Good morning!" She said in a voice that squeaked a little. Her small hands, which were not protected by gloves like Ruby's, clutched at the bark of the tree tightly.

It was obvious she was nervous, so Ruby tried to talk to her gently. "Are you... going to run away again?" She wondered.

Again the other girl took a deep breath which she let out in a puff of white air.

"N...No..." She mumbled.

"Good!" Ruby gave a small bound and came to a stop before the timid girl. "I'm Ruby! Nice to meet you! What's your name?"

"R...Ruby..." The new girl repeated the name carefully, as though she needed to make sure she did not mess it up. "Ruby..." She sounded as though she really liked that name. "I'm... Weiss..."

"Weiss..." Ruby also said her name experimentally. "It's such a pretty name!"

"R-Really?!" Weiss piped. "Y-You really thinks so?!" Her cheeks were flushed pink.

"Yeah! It's reeeeally pretty! Just like you!" Ruby grinned.

"Ah... I-I..." Weiss stammered, taking a step back, then a step forward again. "I think... y-your name... is pretty, too..." She finally managed to reply.

"Thanks!" Ruby jumped up and down in the snow. "So we're friends now! You don't have to run away, okay?"

Weiss stole one last uncertain glance over her shoulder at the car where her mother waited.

"...Okay..." She said at last as she turned back to her new friend.

"Great!"

Ruby had a plethora of questions to ask her new companion, but she realized that bombarding her with so many words would probably not be the best approach to breaking down the bars of the cage she had built around herself.

But before she could decide what to ask first, Ruby noticed the flashing yellow lights of the school bus as it rolled down the street. Ruby decided to force back her curiosity and hold off on her questions for now.

"Come on!" She grabbed Weiss's bare hand and pulled her up over a mound of snow. "You're sitting next to _me_ today!"

* * *

As the days went by, Ruby found herself spending more and more time in school, before, and after, together with Weiss.

She discovered much about the new girl within a few days, like how she was very intelligent for her age. Weiss always answered whatever question the teachers asked her, and was always praised as a result. She got very good grades, too, and therefore the adults treated her very specially.

However, this caused the other children to avoid her, muttering about her being a "teacher's pet" and a "snotty-know-it-all", so most of them never even tried to talk to her. Ruby always got very mad whenever she heard the other children talking about Weiss that way, and she longed to yell at them that they were wrong, but forced herself not to.

She saw Weiss in the cafeteria that day, asking the other girls if she could sit with them. It was clear that she was mustering up as much courage as she could, but they scrunched their noses and said "No! Go sit with the _teachers_!" and turn their backs.

Weiss's shoulders slumped and Ruby could tell she was fighting back tears as she limped away. She sat at the table in the corner of the room and began eating by herself. But she felt so miserable she could not even stomach her food.

When Ruby noticed all this, she instantly left her own table and rushed over to Weiss's side, eagerly sitting down beside her and talking to her a mile a minute.

"Weiss! Are you okay? They're so mean, I can't believe them!"

"Ruby..." Weiss sniffled as she glanced up. "I... I wanna quit school..."

"What?!" Ruby blurted. "N-No! You can't do that!"

"But... Mother said... that if I really can't do it... I could just learn at home..."

"But..." Ruby's face fell. "But then... I won't get to see you anymore..." Just thinking about it made her eyes begin to water.

When Weiss saw that the energetic Ruby, whom she had never seen cry before, was about to cry now over not being able to see Weiss anymore, she was very confused.

"You... You would be sad if I was gone...?

"Of course!" Ruby cried. "You're my best friend, Weiss!"

"B...Best...?"

"And don't listen to those girls! They're just jealous because you're so smart and pretty!"

"I-I'm... what?"

"You're really smart!" Ruby repeated. "And really pretty! And you're my best friend!" She cried.

Weiss said nothing for another minute and just continued to stare at Ruby. Then, she blinked and murmured something to herself. "I won't quit..." She decided.

"Really?" Ruby perked up instantly.

"Be... Because Ruby's here... I don't... I don't want to quit..."

"Weiss..." Ruby's silver eyes were sparkling again, and Weiss decided she liked it best of all when Ruby smiled like that.

The two girls ate together that day, and unbeknownst to them at the time, would continue to do so for every day to come.

Ruby shared her snacks with Weiss and told every story she could think of. "My older sister Yang is really goofy!" She was saying. "She's always making super lame jokes and stuff! Do you have a brother or sister, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

Weiss stopped eating and put down the cracker she had been fiddling with.

"No..." She murmured.

"Hm..." Ruby put a hand on her chin as she thought briefly. "Well then, I'll just have to be your best friend, _and_ your new sister!" She declared. "So call me Big Sister Ruby from now on, okay?"

"...Big Sister... Ruby?" Weiss repeated.

"Yeees? What is it, Weiss?"

"...I think I'll just call you Ruby." Weiss decided.

"Awww..." Ruby put on a pouting face, puffing her cheeks out like a chipmunk.

Ruby never forgot that moment for the rest of her life, as it was the first time she heard Weiss laugh. Her small, pale lips curved up into a beautiful smile as she laughed from the bottom of her heart; Ruby could tell she was truly happy at that moment, and she engraved that smile into her memory for years to come.

* * *

After several weeks, it was still snowing in the mornings before school, but Weiss no longer hid behind the trees as she waited for Ruby.

Instead, she stood eagerly in front of them, her eyes flicking from side to side as she sought out the familiar red jacket.

Whenever she saw Weiss, Ruby would break out into a run to meet her; likewise, if Ruby ever managed to arrive before Weiss, Weiss would always run as fast as she could to get to her.

It even got to the point where the two girls would leave much earlier than necessary just to get to the bus stop and see each other. Ruby also realized that the big car that used to wait at the side of the road to take Weiss to school privately if it had to was no longer there.

The two of them would openly play and laugh and talk together, but when the other kids started arriving, Weiss would withdraw back into her shell.

"Are you scared of them?" Ruby asked her one morning.

"...No..." Weiss muttered. "It's just... I'm only happy... when I'm with Ruby..."

* * *

The next morning, they were waiting at the bus stop as always.

The snow was falling down slowly, and Ruby ran around trying to catch flakes on her tongue as Weiss just looked up at the white sky.

After successfully catching enough snowflakes, Ruby raced over to Weiss happily. "You know, Weiss. I think you're like a snowflake!" She said suddenly.

"What?" Weiss took her eyes away from the sky to look at Ruby.

"I said I think you're like a snowflake!" She repeated.

"So... you think I'm cold and... and not special?" Weiss guessed.

" Of course not!" Ruby said, quickly. "Don't you know about snowflakes?"

"They're just... they're all the same, aren't they?"

"No, silly!" Ruby reached forward and ruffled Weiss's hair, causing a small sound to escape from her lips. "It's the _opposite_! Every snowflake is _different_ from the rest! No two are alike! And they're all _super_ pretty when you get closer to them!" She added, grinning as she glanced at Weiss.

"So..." Weiss spoke softly. "So... snowflakes are... special?" She asked uncertainly.

"Yep!" Ruby gave a little bounce. "And _you're_ the prettiest, specialist snowflake of all, Weiss!" She declared.

Weiss was still blushing five minutes later when Ruby pulled her onto the bus.

* * *

It was a few mornings after that when Ruby and Weiss were playing in the snow together when Ruby finally remembered to ask what she had been wondering since the first day she met Weiss.

"Why don't you wear any gloves?" She wondered. "Aren't you cold?"

Weiss was quiet for a minute as she padded a snowball into her bare hands.

"I don't like wearing gloves and scarves and hats." Weiss finally replied. "I don't really feel cold. I never did. At least not as much as other kids..."

"Wow..." Ruby's jaw hung open in amazement.

"I know... I'm really weird, right?" Weiss lowered her head shamefully.

"What?" Ruby quickly asked, knowing Weiss had taken her reaction the wrong way. "No, that's not what I meant! I think that's really neat!"

"...What?"

"Yeah! I mean, if you don't feel cold a lot, then you can play outside in the snow all you want! That's really awesome!" Ruby beamed.

"But..." Weiss sniffed. "But what about my scar?"

"Your what?"

"...My scar..." Weiss brushed aside the bangs over her left eye to reveal a pink line running down her cheek. "You... You didn't notice it until now?"

"N-No!" Ruby gasped.

"It's usually the first thing people notice..." Weiss sniffed again. "And then they call me names like Scarface and PinkEye. That's why I left my last school..."

"That's awful!" Ruby stomped her foot angrily. "I never noticed it before because... well, it's a part of you. I never had a reason _not_ to accept it. It's a part of you and I think it's beautiful, just like you are!"

Weiss's expression changed from hollow to emotional within seconds. Her eyes shook with tears as her lip began to tremble. She dropped the snowball she had been holding and lifted her hands to her face to wipe away the tears.

"N...No one has... has ever... s-said something like that... to me... before..." She hiccuped and gasped between sobs, desperately trying to wipe away tears that refused to stop. Ruby was at a loss for what to do, her hands reaching out but not sure if she should touch her friend as she continued speaking. "Everyone... they always called me names... and made fun of me... and wouldn't let me touch them..." She could not continue as she broke down sobbing, burying her face in her hands.

Ruby could not hold back any longer, and tried to copy what her older sister Yang would do whenever Ruby was sad.

She stepped forward and patted Weiss's back carefully. "I'm not afraid to touch you." Ruby said quietly. "I won't call you names. I won't make fun of you. Never ever." She knelt down next to Weiss in the snow and gently took her hands away from her tear-stained facing, holding those bare hands in her own gloved ones; Ruby wanted to look into Weiss's eyes when she said this, because she wanted her to know that she meant it:

"I want you to keep coming to school with me. I want to keep meeting you at the bus stop every morning. I want to keep playing with you. I... want you to keep being my best friend."

She raised her silver eyes to gaze into Weiss's mist-blue ones, offering a big smile. Another tear dripped down Weiss's cheek, over her scar.

"Ru...by..." She sniffled.

"So..." Ruby squeezed Weiss's hands tightly. "So... can I continue...being your friend?" She requested.

Weiss blinked more tears out of her eyes as she nodded her head vigorously.

"Yes!" She cried. "Yes! Yes!"

Ruby then threw her arms around Weiss. "Thanks, Weiss!" She smiled.

"W...What...?" Weiss froze when she felt Ruby's arms around her. No one other than her parents had ever done that before...

"It's a hug!" Ruby told her. "It means we're best friends!"

"Best... friends..."

"Yeah! The bestest best of friends!" Ruby then got another idea and pulled away. Weiss watched her curiously as Ruby removed her red gloves, revealing her bare hands to the cold. "We're gonna be the best of friends forever, okay Weiss?" She hooked her pinky finger with the other girl's. "It's a pinky promise!"

"A... promise...?" Weiss had never had one of those before.

"Yep! It means we'll never ever break it no matter what!" She announced. "We're gonna be friends forever, okay?" She squeezed Weiss's little finger with her own.

"O...Okay!" Weiss nodded eagerly as she squeezed Ruby's pinky back.

They sat there in the snow together for a minute longer, until the tears had dried and they were both laughing together. Ruby then stuffed her left hand into one glove and slipped the other onto Weiss's right hand.

She then stood, offering her bare hand to her friend. Weiss hesitated, but before long slipped her bare fingers into Ruby's. Ruby pulled her up, their hands sharing warmth with one another's.

Ruby led Weiss through the snow, their red and blue snow boots leaving matching footprints behind them.

They continued to hold hands together, looking up at the falling snow as they waited for their bus.

When she finally found enough courage, Weiss cleared her throat. "R...Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

Ruby stumbled back a step then as Weiss threw her arms around her shoulders; she had never given a hug to someone else before, so she hoped she was doing it right.

"Thank you... for being... my first friend!" Weiss said happily. Ruby could hear the smile in her voice, and could feel just how tightly Weiss was hugging her.

Ruby smiled back as she hugged Weiss even tighter. "And we'll be best friends forever, too!" She added.

They held onto one another warmly for as long as they could until the bus arrived.

Then, they held hands again and went forward, exactly how they stayed for years and years afterward – together and smiling.

* * *

**A/N: I actually had a lot of fun writing this (maybe I should do AUs more often?) I also tried to write in a bit more childish style, so I hope that worked out for you. See you on Tuesday!**

**Please review!**


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